"Church as a power system......must come to an end"

Zollitsch and the silence

After the publication of the abuse report on the Archdiocese of Freiburg, there is great horror. Nevertheless, former Bishop Zollitsch has little to fear.

Out of "consideration" for those affected and for the process of coming to terms with the abuse, Zollitsch continues to remain silent, as he announced

Bishop Norbert Trelle's words were dripping with cynicism - from today's perspective. Back then, in March 2014, Trelle did not spare praise at the farewell of Bishop Robert Zollitsch as president of the German Bishops' Conference: "As long-time personnel manager of the Archdiocese, there was the added concern for the other clerical vocations, but also the task of doing a good and precise administrative job." Nine years later, it is clear how precisely Bishop Zollitsch capped information in the Archdiocese of Freiburg.

On 18 April 2023, the working group "Power Structures and File Analysis" presented the final report on sexual abuse. In it, it becomes clear: Zollitsch, who was Archbishop of Freiburg from 2003 to 2013, before that 20 years in charge of personnel in the diocese and from 2008 to 2014 chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, contributed significantly to the fact that for years sexual violence by priests against minors was covered up.

"And to an extent that goes beyond previous expert opinions in other German dioceses," says Magnus Striet, professor of theology and chairman of the GE Commission, a body for coming to terms with sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Freiburg, which was constituted on 18 October 2021.

The abbreviation "GE" stands for "Joint Declaration" and refers to the agreement of the Independent Commissioner on Child Sexual Abuse and the German Bishops' Conference on criteria and standards for an independent reappraisal in the Catholic Church. "Until the change in the Bishop's office in 2014, nothing was done in the Archdiocese of Freiburg," says Striet.

250 priests proven to have been accused

In 2010, Zollitsch had promised that the Church would do everything to guarantee "complete clarification and full transparency". "The shocking thing is that the will to clarify was expressed, but no action was taken," says Striet. The report speaks of at least 540 affected persons and 250 priests who were demonstrably accused. For many years in the investigated period from 1978 to 2014, there are no or only incomplete files.

Zollitsch's behaviour is bitter for Julia Sander. The 42-year-old educator experienced sexual abuse by a priest as a child. Today, she is part of the four-member victims' advisory board of the Archdiocese of Freiburg and is glad that the report has finally been published. "The report clearly underlines that those affected were not heard and did not receive the necessary and required help. Documents, personal files and protocols that could still help affected persons today to get their rights were destroyed or not even produced."

Back in October 2022, Zollitsch released a video acknowledging his personal part in the sexual abuse cover-up. It was "terrible" to see the video, says Sander. And a pure demonstration of power. She expected something similar after the publication of the working group's report.

Zollitsch announced via his website that he had "imposed silence out of consideration for those affected by sexualised violence and out of respect for a necessary and complete coming to terms with it". Sander says: "I find this so highly cynical because he has been silent for the last 30 years in places where he should not have been," he says. "Now to say I'll continue to be silent about everything is the path of least resistance for him".

Zollitsch's cover-up tactics

Following the publication of the report, the former bishop announced that he would return the Federal Cross of Merit, which he received in 2014, as well as the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg and the Great Staufer Medal in Gold. He also renounced the privilege of being buried in the bishop's crypt of Freiburg Cathedral.

Sander sees this as Zollitsch's wish "not to put his colleagues in distress". Even before the honours were returned, she wrote an e-mail to the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), that he should revoke Zollitsch's Staufer Medal and award it to those affected who have been fighting for clarification for ten years.

Sander considers Zollitsch's offer to return his honours a cover-up tactic. "For those of us who are affected, it is really a nightmare that it is pretended that the church is a space that is cut off from the state, and that church victims are not state victims," she says.

A taz request for a statement by Zollitsch is answered by his press spokesman that "the retired Bishop still considers it appropriate not to comment on the final report". However, he was in contact with the victims' advisory council and had "indicated to the public prosecutor's office in Freiburg his full willingness to cooperate". In the meantime, five criminal charges have been filed against him with the accusation of obstruction of justice.

Hardly any changes in the Bishops' Conference

Bishop Bätzing, the current president of the German Bishops' Conference, also let it be known through his press spokesman Matthias Kopp that he had "said everything he wanted to say about Archbishop Zollitsch." And refers to his distancing himself from Zollitsch in the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung: "During his time as chairman of the Bishops' Conference in 2010, decisive measures were taken to come to terms with abuse in the Catholic Church," Bätzing said there. "He apparently did not apply these himself in his diocese during the same time and passed them over." He said he was "perplexed as to how this could happen".

But: On the website of the German Bishops' Conference there is no reference to the Freiburg report and no statement. For Sander, this shows once again that little is changing in the power structures within the Church. She sharply criticises another personnel matter: the press spokesman of the German Bishops' Conference, Matthias Kopp.

In an interview with the taz, she describes the video in which Zollitsch apologised on behalf of the German bishops in 2013, years after the extent of the abuse became known. At Zollitsch's side at the time, also in the picture, was Kopp, who still handles matters for the German Bishops' Conference. "For me, his personnel is simply a symbol that nothing at all has changed in the organisation of the Bishops' Conference," says Sander.

Zollitsch's successor and current Archbishop of Freiburg is Stephan Burger. After the presentation of the final report of the file analysis working group, numerous reactions reached him and the corresponding contact point in the archdiocese. Many shared their horror, sadness and anger about the results, Burger told the taz. "Most agreed that it is good that the full truth has come to the table and that consequences will follow."

Massive cover-up attempts

Burger meets regularly with the victims' advisory board, the next time at the beginning of June. And demands clear consequences in the Zollitsch case. "For the Archdiocese of Freiburg, dealing with the report appropriately means that the contents will now be evaluated in detail and that we will also await the conclusions of the Independent Commission and the Affected Persons' Advisory Council," says Burger. In autumn, the diocese management wants to make a public statement.

On the day the report was published, Burger made no secret of the dramatic extent of the cover-up: "In the past, my two predecessors in office, in particular, simply ignored applicable church law, which provided for intervention and reporting of cases," he said. "Both knew about the legal relevance of the issue. Behind this was what we now see as a misunderstood esprit de corps."

Burger goes even further and chooses words like hardly anyone else in his function before. From his point of view, an "outward church image" should be maintained "that rejects any misconduct far from it."

Irme Stetter-Karp, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), also joins in the outrage about Zollitsch and the report's findings. "Zollitsch has apparently completely ignored canon law in connection with abuse cases. The children, young people and parents concerned did not even exist for him," Stetter-Karp told the taz.

Church as a power system

She is also angry and shocked. "This way of church as a power system, in which people are not only deeply violated in their integrity, but are also marginalised and silenced as those affected, must come to an end." Theology professor, Striet's summary is also devastating: "The whole system is dysfunctional."

Although the criticism seems to be harsher than ever, Zollitsch has little to fear: "I suspect that he will be banned from public appearances and that he will be deprived of certain episcopal privileges," predicts Striet.

Sander from the victims' council demands that state and church victim compensation be addressed with support from the commissioner for child sexual abuse issues, for example with a round table. "It needs active education and support, also from the state side."

But Sander is under no illusions. "You always have to bear in mind what it means for the person affected if you still have to think about whether or not to take down the photo of a cover-up. After all, I don't hang up photos of the sea and storms in a counselling centre for tsunami victims."

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